


From Humble Beginnings

by beyondinsane



Category: Law & Order: UK
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-10
Updated: 2009-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:16:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyondinsane/pseuds/beyondinsane





	From Humble Beginnings

Alesha had already made up her mind not to talk to her mother about today's trial, at least not for a few more days. Yet, when it was all over,when Merrick was convicted on 14 counts of rape and sexual misconduct, there was really only one voice she wanted to hear. She set down her keys and picked up the phone, not even bothering to remove her coat. In fact, she wrapped it tight around her, feeling better now that she was off the street and in familiar surroundings. After the verdict she had bolted, not wanting to hear the inevitable "Shall I hire a cab, Alesha?" from James or even the more rough "Walk you home, yeah?"

Getting home was something she wanted to do on her own, just to prove to herself she still could. Merrik had not been on trial for her rape; but his guilty verdict was as much for her as it was for the other women he had assaulted.

"Mum?" Alesha's voice was far softer than it normally was, a breath away from breaking.

Her mother sighed heavily, instinctively knowing, in the way all mothers do, that something had her daughter upset.

"What'd Steel do this time? Is he going to prosecute his mum for unpaid parking citations?" Her mothers voice was as low as Alesha's was posh, though whenever she spoke to her mum she reverted a bit. No matter how high she rose, she was still a girl from Hackney, not that anyone ever forgot that.

"Mother...I wish you wouldn't talk about him that way."

"Why not? God knows you do...I thought you were going to quit over that last row you had. The one over his boyfriend from uni. Always did seem a bit sly to me." Her mother's voice had a caustic effect on her; made her want to fight, to argue, to win. She loved her mother, to be sure, but no one else had a one-way express ticket beneath her skin.

"Faruk wasn't his boyfriend." Alesha said hollowly, though that particular idea had occurred to her more than once. There was something about the way Faruk regarded him, the way James's accusations had stung the other man that seemed to indicate a deeper relationship than the one James had established - close mates from their university days. "Anyway, it wasn't about their relationship, whatever you think it was. It was about evidence. James needs everything laid out in front of him before he goes to trial."

"Is that what's taking him so long? Does he expect you to lie out in front of him before he takes notice of you?"

Alesha nearly dropped the phone. It wasn't the first time her mother had made certain insinuations about the nature of their friendship - hell, during her first month she had been certifiably love-struck. Who wouldn't have been? She enjoyed the hints of tension between them; it was natural for a male and female partnership and good fun. She enjoyed raising James's eyebrows every now and again, and she could tell he liked making her blush but it went no further than that. She knew that her mum's comments stemmed from a desire to see her happily settled down - and since she spoke of almost no one else, Steel was the target of most of her mum's barbs.

Tonight, though, her mother's choice of words was as evocative as it was ill-timed. In silence, Alesha sat as her mind conjured up the examination room, well lit and sterile. She lay on her back, distant and acquiescent as James slid in to her, a smugly satisfied grin on his face as she relinquished herself to him.

The vision made her gag.

"Alesha?" Her mum's voice cut through the silence. "Alesha, I'm sorry. Of course I didn't mean that. I just think he's crazy not to notice you."

"Mum, we work together. And we're friends. Just leave well enough alone, for once, can't you?" Alesha fought back the lump rising in her throat. She had hoped this conversation would distract her and cheer her up, but it was going all wrong.

"You seem a bit off tonight, love. Anything wrong? Something happen at work?"

"I've got to go, mum. Catch up on some work. Just tired, is all."

"Alesha..."

"Night, mum." Alesha ended the call, feeling terrible for essentially hanging up on her mum, but it wouldn't be the first time. She'd call back in the morning and make up some excuse to be cheerful. Inventing a first date usually worked.

Sliding out of her coat at last, she replaced it almost immediately with her robe. Didn't matter that it clashed horribly with her pink sweater and gray dress, the tattered tan fleece was a comfort. Alesha turned the telly on, but flicked it off almost immediately. Too much chance of seeing him on the screen.

What did she do most nights? Alesha looked around the room, desperately seeking some routine. It occurred to her that normally she wasn't home this early in the evening. Something had to be done about the silence. She went to her collection of dusty CD's and selected the first one from the alphabetized stack : Armatrading, Joan.

She placed the CD in the tray and had almost banished the quiet when something else did it for her; a small rap at the door of her flat. She hurried to the door.

"Just a second." She said, brushing away the tears she hadn't even realized she'd been crying and looking through the peephole.

A black scarf and a black jacket. Flowers, a soft smile, and Matt Devlin. Things not often found on the doorstep of Alesha Phillips. Alesha opened the door a crack, as if afraid that it wasn't really Matt at all.

"Followed you home." Matt shrugged apologetically. "Just to make sure no one bothered you. Reporters, you know. Only a matter of time before they connect the dots." He said, looking over his shoulder as though there might be someone from the Beeb approaching any moment. "Saw you safely inside and left for mine, but I saw these, and thought you might like them." The night air was chilly and his breath made a small cloud when it escaped his lips. Matt's good looks were almost oppressive at times; Alesha found that looking at his shark cheekbones and piercing eyes intimidating enough when they weren't focused on her. The times that they were, it took all her courtly manners not to flush. Yet now, the cold had nipped his cheeks and nose, softening his chiseled face almost comically. He looked less like the stunningly attractive Detective Sargent with a reputation and more like your average bloke freezing on a doorstep with a fistful of flowers, which was fitting in that it was exactly what he was.

The flowers themselves were exquisite - the kind you wouldn't find at a street vendors this time of year but she let the white lie pass - yellow roses that seemed almost tangerine in places, deepening to a rosy flush at the tips of their petals.

"Peace roses..." Matt mumbled. "Suppose you might have preferred red ones."

Alesha shook her head and smiled at him, corners of her mouth pulled in tight the way they were whenever she was at a loss for words.

"I guess I'll be off then." Matt said, looking anywhere but at her and pushing the bouquet in towards her. Alesha reached for it, but wrapped her hand around Matt's. His fingers were freezing - how far had he walked to get her flowers?

"Wait, Matt. They're lovely. Come in for tea?" She asked. "Or coffee." She added, remembering his fondness for the American beverage.

The apprehension faded from Matt's face. "Tea's fine. I'd like that, if that would be alright with you."

"It's alright. I was just wishing for some company." Alesha paused a moment before pressing herself to continue. "Silence makes me think."

"Good job I'm a horribly noisy chap then." Matt joked.

She stood side so he could enter and took his coat and scarf. He was still in his suit from court, which differed from his usual attire. It was more somber - the look suited him, she thought. It was easier to deal with than those form-fitting shirts in their bright array of colours. Still stylish, but simple - were it not for the absurd size difference it could have been borrowed from James. Matt loosed his tie a bit and looked around the apartment like...well, like a detective, she supposed.

"I'll just put the kettle on...and put these in a vase. I am sure I have one around here somewhere." Alesha moved to the kitchen and began fumbling around in the cupboards. In fact, she wasn't sure she had a vase. She found a wine carafe and filled it, hoping Matt wouldn't know the difference.

"Pretty girl like you should have more than one. Doesn't James get you any flowers?"

"Why would he?" She closed the cabinet too hard, and winced at the resounding "bang" that followed.

"I just..I thought. Well if I were him I'd get you flowers." Matt finished, sensing he'd touched a nerve.

"You sound like my mum." Alesha said from the other room, running the tap to fill the teapot. "She's convinced James and I will be announcing our engagement any day now. Utterly delusional."

"Is she now? I wouldn't be so sure. He seems to care a great deal for you."

"Like a father, I guess. Not that I know too much about that. Like Ronnie cares for you, I suppose." Alesha poked her head around the kitchen just in time to see Matt squirm uncomfortably. How like a man, to be embarrassment about the bonds of affection.

"I suppose." He admitted after a moment. "Not that I have a good idea about what constitutes a father figure either. The fatherly image I got from mine was enough to last a life. Don't need anyone else trying to fill his shoes." He watched her place the flowers on an end table and suppressed a grin when he recognized their vessel.

"I'll drink to that." She said, handing him a cup of tea.

"If we're going to drink to that, we'll need something much stronger than tea." Matt said, his eyes growing sad and distant the way they always did when Matt mentioned his family. It happened only rarely - like Alesha herself, Matt smiled more often than not. It was a shared defense mechanism, she supposed, a holdover from childhood. Happy children didn't get hit or abandoned. Happy children didn't have social services investigating their parents. Happy adults didn't have abusive or absent fathers. It was a relief to be able to put down her mask, and Alesha marveled that she had never talked to Matt about their similar childhoods before. Given the circumstances, it was almost absurd.

"Tea first, and then we can discuss our Baddie Daddys." Alesha laughed, sitting not-quite-next to him on the sofa. "I think I have some whiskey somewhere."

"Whiskey." Matt arched his eyebrow and nodded towards the impromptu vase. "And here I thought you were a wine drinker."

"You're observant." She commented, feeling her skin flush. It felt good, strangely enough, Matt's gentle teasing. At work, she had always written off his flirtation as showmanship - an act for his fellow coppers to cheer him for when she left the room, but perhaps she has been uncharitable. The attention made her feel at ease, and she suddenly understood why Devlin did most of the interrogating.

"Detective." He said, as if that explained everything. "You're not the only one that never stops working."

"Yeah, well, careful." Alesha said, the warmth in her stomach replaced by the frigid chill of her memory. "I recently learned that can backfire." Alesha started intently into her tea-cup, willing herself not to relive the scene in the office again. Why did she tape it? Why didn't she destroy the tape? She felt the weight on the couch shift as Matt slid closer to her.

"I'm proud of you, you know." Matt lay a hand gently on her arm - only then did she realize it had been shaking.

"For getting myself raped?"

"For not letting him get away with what he did. To your friend, and to you. Not many who woulda made sure he got what was coming to him. You did what you had to do."

"That's not what James and George think. George gave me quite the lecture on my own stupidity."

Matt sighed, and took the tea cup from her. "It wasn't stupid." He said, placing the cup on the table and filling her empty hands with his own. "It was dangerous, Alesha, but it was the only thing you coulda done. Sometimes I have to do things...become things I don't like very much in order to get to the truth. Sometimes I have to hurt people, sometimes I have to lie, sometimes I get too close for comfort and I hate who I am, at that moment I hate myself. But there's a reason I do it. It's cause I have to know - and it can't be anyone else telling me - I have to know, for myself, if a man's guilty. I've got to know, before I throw him to Steel, that whoever's done wrong, that there going to pay for it." Alesha sat in silence as Matt rubbed her hands softly.

"If there was a way I could have taken your place, I would have done the same thing." Matt continued, voice soft where it had been impassioned only moments ago. "But next time tell me when you plan on going undercover. Never hurts to have back up so a situation doesn't get out of control. No matter what you think, you don't have to go it alone. What you said about being a poor girl from Hackney, well, don't forget - all of us come from somewhere, yeah?"

"I know Matt, and what I said, I didn't mean it. I was just exasperated."

"You don't have a habit of saying things you don't mean. If you said it, it was how you were feeling. No one should ever feel like their friends think so low of them, especially not when you run with such a pack of common low-lifes."

"Matt!" Alesha couldn't help but laugh again. "You are hardly a low-life."

"Oh yeah? Mum and Dad came here straight from Ireland. Lived in a two room flat by the docks. Weren't even born in a hospital - by the time mum had me she figured she didn't need any help. One of my first arrests was my thieving brother Seamus."

"You do NOT have a brother named Seamus!"

"I do! I arrested him for stealing a watch. Granted I was five at the time and I couldn't place him at the scene of the crime, but I'm sure that wanker had it. He's doing time now."

"For stealing a watch?" Alesha asked incredulously.

"No, aggravated assault." Matt said. "It was right after I got Detective - he thought he was untouchable. So that's where I come from."

"Well, ok, you're rubbish but what about Ronnie." Alesha said, realizing that Matt was only just barely still holding her hands. She found herself not minding. Strange that his flirting would seem endearing now instead of annoying. Perhaps it was because he had been so overt in his concern for her throughout the ordeal. In fact, she had rarely seen DS Devlin so roused - in court he was staring daggers into Merrick. The only time he took his eyes off the man was to check on her reactions.

"Ronnie? Come on, he's nearly washed up, hasn't solved a case without me spoon feeding him the evidence for three years now." Matt teased,obviously exaggerating.

"Yeah, I am sure. James then?"

"He's the worst of all - a recovering defense attorney with bad hair."

Alesha's smile erupted into a laugh.

"I don't think James has bad hair!"

"Pish. Why else does he go about in that wig all the time? I bet he takes it home."

The idea of James Steel watching telly in his wig was too much. Alesha wiped tears from her eyes, laughing as she lay her head against Matt's shoulder.

"I needed this, Matt. Thank you." Alesha said has her laughter subsided.

"Think nothing of it, love. Just brought you flowers and ran off at the mouth."

Alesha swallowed hard, the bubble of laughter replaced with an overwhelming urge to cry in earnest.

"That's not all. You've been a dear through this whole thing. You really have. You listened when I...you were the first to watch that tape. You saw him, and now you're here, bringing me flowers and treating me like nothing's changed and I'm still the kind of woman you'd chase down the hall trying to chat up for a cup of coffee sometime." Tears were falling now, and she covered her eyes with a hand. "God, I am a mess. Laughing one minute and sobbing the next."

"I have that effect on women." Matt said, squeezing her hand and smiling softly.

Alesha coughed a weak laugh as Matt slid one of his arms around her.

"Come here." He murmured, and Alesha nestled against his chest, too overcome to even feel embarrassed. The worst part about the whole ordeal was that the men around her, even the women, seemed afraid to touch her. "Wanted to bring you flowers for a long time now. Suppose I shouldn't have waited till something awful happened. But Alesha, love, no matter what awful thing happened, you're still the kind of woman I'd chase down the hall for cup of coffee. Maybe even dinner, when you're feeling up to it."

"Are you asking me on a date?" Alesha raised her head to meet his eyes.

"I have awful timing, I know. I'm a sodding idiot." He looked genuinely worried. "I don't want you to think I'm...that's not why I'm here, you know. I just wanted to know I care for you, as a friend. But if sometime you wanted to grab dinner after work, as friends or maybe more than, I'd like that."

"Do you always babble so much when you ask a girl out?" Alesha asked. "I thought you'd have had it down to a routine."

"Only when I really like the girl, and even then only when I know she outclasses me by a long shot."

Alesha smiled again, feeling more herself than she had in months.

"Would it shatter the illusion if I asked you to order in tonight? Not very classy of me, but I really don't feel like leaving the house and I've got nothing around."

Matt grinned back at her, looking very much like a little boy who got his way a little too often.

"I know a great curry house up the street. They don't deliver, but I don't mind running out."

And so he did. Alesha used the half an hour to change her clothes, replacing her dress with her favourite pair of jeans and a sweater. It was nice, to feel a little excited, she thought, and headed to the bathroom to freshen up her lip gloss. There were days these last few months that she could scarcely stand to look at herself in the mirror, but the woman she saw looking back at her now wasn't just a victim. She was more than that - strong and savvy, like a detective. Like Matt Devlin. He had been her rock since the incident, and now that the case was closed on Merrik, now that justice had been done, he wanted to be more. Take-away and drinks wasn't much of a first date, but at least she wouldn't have to invent one, she thought with a grin. Mum would be pleased.

A knock came at her door - Matt with dinner, she assumed, but still peaked through the peephole. A girl can't be to careful.

A black scarf and a black jacket. A soft smile and Matt Devlin, for the second time that evening. Things Alesha Phillips could get used to seeing on her doorstep a little more often. She opened the door and let him in.


End file.
